Have arrived in the city of Angels!! Raining, 31 degs, busy, cars everywhere, people everywhere, no one sleeps! Welcome back to the real world! I have been to some amazing places this holiday. In the UK I made it to places I had never been to before - so glad to see what I have wanted to see. History - what made this world.. Life of today.. lived it in the burbs.. visited castles, the churches, cathedrals, small village pubs, mixed with the locals.. thats what it is all about. Living and knowing how other people live. Met some fantastic people [View Full Entry]

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We have arrived in Amman after leaving Petra and an exciting time there. Take a lot to top that day! On our way we went to a Crusader castle Shoback (http://www.atlastours.net/jordan/shobak.html) which they are restoring but a lot is still very original including the catapault stones which they used to fight the enemy. Sitting on top of a hill they had 360deg all round. From there we headed to Madaba and visited St George Church which has the mosaic map of the Holy land which dates back to 6th century ; http://198.62.75.1/www1/ofm/mad/index.html The mosaic in this town is beautiful. Would ha [View Full Entry]

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Today we went into Petra. Arrived there about 8.30 am, those that wanted to ride horses to the beginning of the siq took off as we walked. Not too sure how my foot would have held up in the stirrups. Walking through the siq was an amazing feeling. Wondering what we were going to discover every time we turned a corner. Changing colours of the rock formations, carvings into the rock where temples had been made, and they had even built a gutter to carry water from the runoff from the high cliffs down and into a dam they had made [View Full Entry]

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Left Aqaba today after a good nights sleep in a nice Hotel for a change. Clean , clean, clean!! Driving along Jordan is so huge adn the statistics are amazing. Apparently 50% of the population is under 18.. Very Modern and from Aqaba, you can see Israel. Amazing how close. Aqaba is a very nice place. http://www.aqaba.jo/english/index.php Went to Wadi Rum which is in the outskirts and occupied by the bedouins. Amazing rock formations and sand colours! http://www.pbase.com/mansour_mouasher/rum&page=all check out this site to see what I mean. Not my pictures but I have similar. Had tea in a [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Aqaba the biggest sea port you have ever seen. It has existed in this form as a port for 6000 years. This apparently is the lung of this country. Getting off the ferry was the most organised, incredibly efficient system that should be in place in Egypt.. but then don't hold your breath!! Met by the Geckos group who channelled our entry so smoothly it was like just home. Arrived at our hotel which feels like 5 star! compared to what we had previously. It can only get better than this I am sure. Went had had a fish [View Full Entry]

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Arrived back by train and by comparison to the first trip down to Aswan it was a bit better.... not much but a bit.. we found a toilet that was a little cleaner.. not much but a bit!!!! A few of us headed to the Khan El Khallily bazaar to look around. We witnessed two actaul fist and head fights between two different groups of men in the Bazaar. All suffering from the effects of Ramadaan. The bus arrived to take us to the hostel in Morganland at St Catherines for our next challenge - Mt Sinai. Well the accommodation was [View Full Entry]

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We cruised for 3 days and 4 nights on the Nile.. we visited Edfu - the temple of Komombo - this is a magnificnet temple. Our boat was delayed getting up the river and we did not get there till dusk , but it was much more beautiful with the lighting and the balmy evening after layign beside the pool all day!! This amazing temple is so huge and again the carvings and colours stand out and have been preserved so much. We spent a few hours there and just adsorbed ourselves!! That evening we had a Galabera dress up night. [View Full Entry]

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After the greatest train ride of all time - 12 hrs overnight half sitting - half laying, and no air conditioning for the first couple of hours, we arrived in Aswan. Where to begin!!!We checked into our hotel overlooking the Nile River. Went for a walk and had some lunch and checked out the town. Have done so much my mind is a blank!!! at present!! We had an early morning to go out to Abu Simbel.. up at 3 or 4 for a 3 hr bus convoy to arrive by 8.00 am. This magnificent temple was moved up the bank [View Full Entry]

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Today was a dream come true.. seeing these amazing formations up close is an incredible experience. The Sphinx in the foreground of the Pyramids is so small.. it is hard to believe.. have had an amazing day there in Giza. Went inside the second Pyramid first down a small walkway crouched down as it is only a metre hight( of course I was OK becasue I am a bit small!!) then you come into a chamber and then ascend into an upper chamber. So hot - no air -- but an incredible experience. Didn't go into the great Pyramid. The climb [View Full Entry]

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After a beautiful sojourn in France have arrived into Cairo early Monday morning - like 1.30am and to Hotel by 2.30am - then up to go to Alexandria at 7.30 am!! This place never sleeps!! Amazing flying over Cairo - an enormous amount of lights and traffic. Alexandria ( 3 hrs drive through desert all of which I slept) - is extremely populated - 3 million in Alexandria alone. Huge high rise, and no road rules!! Went to Pompeys Pillar and the site of the lighthouse whic is no longer but a huge sea wall. Drove along that stretch for 40 [View Full Entry]

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